Propane shortage

Long range models show this cold hanging on till maybe Feb 4 or later, reading this story it's as if no one expected to have a cold winter? I know it has been a rough winter so far but given COLD winter forecast I saw back in late November and early December I expected this. I have heard two rumors as to why the shortage, one being more propane was used to dry the corn crop last season which depleted propane reserves and the other rumor was it is being sold oversees for three times the money limiting our supply. Is this being overhyped or are we facing a potentially serious problem? Being someone who heats primarily with propane as well as most all the residence in the rural areas around me this story has got my attention given the forecast ahead of us.

It is just logistics..getting it to midwest. There is plenty of propane, roughly half made from making natural gas which is plentiful. Nat gas way to go but not piped everywhere, thus trains and trucks for propane..

Over hyped? Seems how I called in and requested to have my tank filled 3 weeks ago and they showed up yesterday and would only fill 150 gallons for $3.16 a gallon pre tax! I paid $1.60 a gallon last summer, I feel bad for the people that are tight on money are are trying to survive, they are going to be hurting big time trying to keep fuel on the tank!

This is a big problem and will get worse before it gets better, makes a guy wonder what else he could do for heat.

Seriously using propane to dry the corn crop last summer? Am I missing something? They harvested WAY early in 2013 around these parts. I'm not convinced gas heat was needed.

You must not live in a rural area as the corn was super wet this last fall and a lot of LP was used to dry it down. I could hear the fans running all fall while everyone tryed to dry it down. The grain elevators were rejecting loads as they couldn't get it dryer down fast enough themselves. Now I don't know if I believe that is the true reason for LP shortage as I font believe anything .gov tells me...

Market manipulation is the scam of leasing a tank and then being locked into buying from that one company. We heat with wood and only use propane for cooking, water heating, and a backup heater. We have a 320 gallon tank and get charged a surcharge for deliveries under 200 gallons so we wait until under 5% to get a delivery (max fill is 80% of a tank capacity). We were charged $4.19 a gallon plus tax three weeks ago for $1100 for 248 gallons. That plus a $40 a year tank lease.

I am building a better solar water heater (the one I have now I have to shut off in the winter) and changing the water heater, stove, and backup heater back to 100lb tanks of which I have several from before we got the bulk tank. We got the bulk tank precisely so we could save a little money and the hassle of changing out the 100lb tanks, but the highway robbery of leasing a tank and paying whatever price that company decides they want to charge is ridiculous.

This summer's project is a methane digester large enough to replace most of the gas needs for cooking. We're looking for a small oil burner for the backup heater so we can buy fuel oil or kerosene on our own.